Tag Archives: Cyrano
Kriegsspiel That Would Never End™ – An AAR, part 1
What happens when you cram 10 days of battle into 18 months of forum posts? ~
Jim Owczarski, 12 May 2018
It took nine game days rather than the postulated six.
It took a tiny bit over a year and a half of real time.
It resulted in 568 forum posts and 33,553 forum views (as I write this).
The umpire sent out 825 dispatches.
And it is over.
Jokes to the contrary notwithstanding, the Kriegsspiel That Would Never End™ actually ended on 5 May 2018.
But that would be to begin at the ending, and no one wants that.
In the beginning, I was planning a trip to the Jena-Auerstedt battlefields and I had always had a love of Dr. Didier Rouy’s “The Flight of the Eagle” Napooleonic campaign system. I also enjoy the company of the crew from the GrogHeads forums and was delighted when a fair number of them responded to the idea of playing one of these Kriegsspiels with something other than derisive laughter or knowing dismissal.
GrogHeads Reviews Battle of Britain (the new one!)
Never have so many spent so much backing a game by so few that plays… so well? ~
Jim Owczarski, 31 March 2018
During the mad era when Lorraine Williams lead TSR, the company released, counter intuitively to some, a few of the most popular wargames ever created. Chief among these was The Hunt for Red October, but the list also includes bright lights like Red Storm Rising, A Line in the Sand, and, less brightly, Europe Aflame. This list was joined in 1990 by Battle of Britain (hereafter just BoB), a Richard Borg design that brought Mr. Borg’s love of light simulation and dice-heavy combat resolution to the skies over Britain and the English Channel in those early years of the Second World War.
More than 25 years later, the Plastic Soldier Company, which partnered with Mr. Borg to create the First World War iteration of his Commands and Colors system, launched a Kickstarter to re-release BoB and bring its production values up to contemporary wargame standards. The Kickstarter was well received, but, as with many of these endeavors, there were lots of delays, allegations of poor communication on the part of the company, and a fair amount of displeasure with the quality of some of the components. I received my own copy over a year after I backed it — about eight months after I expected it — and I’ve been having a go at the game with my son. What do I think of the re-boot? That would be telling; please read on.
Lovely cover art
GrogHeads Interviews Glenn Drover of Forbidden Games
FoG Glenn Drover is launching a new venture, and stops by to tell us all about it ~
Jim Owczarski, 24 March 2018
Glenn Drover has been in the game business for quite a few years now. 
Despite an abiding love of historic gaming — notably in offerings like Napoleon in Europe and Victory and Glory: Napoleon — his biggest successes have been lighter fare including time spent at digital developer PopCap. Earlier this week, he and fellow PopCap alum announced a new venture — Forbidden Games. It seemed like a logical time to do a little catching up.
So, for the six people reading this who don’t know you, what were the last three games — digital, tabletop or otherwise — you were involved with?
The last three games that I worked on that were published were:
- Victory & Glory: Napoleon, a lighter grand strategy game of the Napoleonic Wars for the PC, published by Matrix (Note: I finally finished the board game version, which will be shipping in April, published by Forbidden)
- Galactic Rebellion, a sequel (of sorts) to Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, published by Eagle Games
- WarQuest, a fantasy strategy game (with amazing miniatures) inspired by Divine Right, published by Mr. B Games
Dragon’ Up The Past – Week 9, Eastern Wanderings and AD&D2E
Just how many editions ago? ~
Brant & Jim, 22 December 2017
Looking ahead to Second Edition, as well as exploring the options for Eastern adventures, and small-press good/bad ideas.
We’ve got plenty more where this one came from – there’s 192 issues still to go!
Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>
Dragon’ Up The Past – Week 8, Strange Things Afoot
What’s the ’80s tie-in to today? ~
Brant & Jim, 15 December 2017
Lots of psionics, literary references to your gaming, an early Ravenloft ad, tracing character sketches, and a nice tie-in to today’s storytelling.
We’ve got plenty more where this one came from – there’s 193 issues still to go!
Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>
